A display provides a visual presentation of information. The visual presentation of information with a display can include representations of multiple data categories. For example, multiple data categories corresponding to sensors and systems of an aircraft can be visually presented to a vehicle operator with a display. The multiple data categories can be any number of classes or divisions in a classification scheme of information that are to be visually represented on a display, such as navigation data (e.g., navigation aid or NAVAID data, airport data, fix data, lateral/vertical/time flight plan route data, communication frequency data, latitude and longitude data, Grid Minimum Off-Route Altitude (Grid MORA) data, air traffic control and boundary data, magnetic variation data, time zone data, approach and departure chart data, airport diagram data, city data, road data, railroad data, elevation contour line data, river data, lake data, uplink weather data, winds aloft data, airspace data, airway data and absolute terrain data, or the like) and sensor data (e.g., airborne weather data, Automatic Dependent Surveillance—Broadcast (ADS-B) data, obstacle data, traffic sensor data or Traffic alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS), relative terrain data and Enhanced Ground Proximity Warning System (EGPWS) data).
Displays have continued to advance in sophistication and have achieved increasingly higher levels of information density that enable the visual presentation of a greater number of data categories. These advancements provide the visual display of multiple data categories that can be readily assimilated by an operator and/or user of the display and can also provide a reduction in unnecessary information to ease the task of perceiving and understanding a data category of interest. However, as the information density continues to increase, methods and apparatus are desirable that visually display the data categories in a manner that provides proper cognitive mapping between the operator and/or user of a display and also reduces the effort of the operator and/or user in assimilating one or more of the data categories of interest.
In view of the foregoing, it should be appreciated that it would be desirable to provide an apparatus for displaying multiple data categories. In addition, it should be appreciated that it would be desirable to provide a method for displaying multiple data categories. Furthermore, additional desirable features will become apparent to one skilled in the art from the drawings, foregoing background of the invention, and the following detailed description of the invention.